Cooke becomes Mayne man after healthy return

Page Tools

Mayne Group has hired Robert Cooke  the man who bought its
underperforming hospital business for $813 million and sold it 18
months later for a substantial profit  to head its
soon-to-be-demerged domestic operations.

Mr Cooke's appointment was announced after the market closed
yesterday. He will run Mayne's diagnostic, pharmacy and consumer
products division once it is demerged from the global
pharmaceutical business.

The announcement is likely to surprise many in the healthcare
industry, because it comes as Mr Cooke and his private equity
partners finalise negotiations to buy back part of the hospital
business sold to Ramsay Health Care for $1.4 billion earlier this
year.

Mr Cooke was expected to take an equity stake in the new
venture, but that is unlikely now.

Mayne chairman Peter Willcox said in a statement that Mr Cooke's
appointment, which is subject to shareholder's approval of the
demerger, had followed a thorough and rigorous executive search
process.

While the Mayne board has been impressed with the way Mr Cooke
turned around the Affinity Health business, it is believed he was
approached by a headhunter only recently.

Mr Willcox said the board was delighted with Mr Cooke's
appointment. "He has the energy, drive and proven ability to build
strong relationships with health-care professionals that will be
required for the task ahead," he said.

The terms of Mr Cooke's contract were not disclosed.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Mr Cooke, who was appointed
general manager of Mayne's hospitals in 2002, before taking part in
a management buyout that led to the creation of Affinity.

He told The Age that deciding between rebuilding Affinity
 which will comprise 14 hospitals divested by Ramsay 
and coming to Mayne had been tough.

"At this stage of my career, moving to Mayne is in line with the
skills I'm keen to develop," he said. "It's a wonderful opportunity
to be involved in a new era at an Australian icon company."

Mayne has yet to announce who will run its global operation.

Mr Cooke will continue to manage the Affinity hospitals on
behalf of Ramsay until the demerger is approved, most likely later
this year.